It's your rifle and you can do what you want, but ask yourself why you are doing this. If it's for the fun of the project, well then it's your property and you can do what you want. But when you are done with this project, after the bent bolt handle, scope and other do-dads, you'll have sunk several hundred dollars into an outdated platform with, (in the opinion of some) an inferior cartridge, that will always be a compromise. If you need or want a hunting rifle, buy a hunting rifle. Hard-core collectors of Mosin Nagants see no value in a modified rifle and prefer the original, dings and all.

I would say to check around a few places for the ones that have already been "snperized" instead of trying to find all of the stuff, you can have one that is already done with a period correct scope, and mounts.

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No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.

DO NOT GO WITH ATI. I found that out the hard way this spring while sporterizing one of my own. I bought it sight unseen from a local sporting goods chain store based on the condition of the display model and is pretty nasty. the stock though not overly gauged had still seen better days and was an unattractive light wood tone. the tool marks looked look like it was forged with an actual hammer and sickle. everything it came with looked heavily used and everything had nearly 1/4 inch of cosmoline on, in, and around it.

accuracy was even poorer than the first mosin I bought so I decided to use this one as my test subject. many people say I should have used the nicer one however I did not want to use one that I was emotionally invested in. I wanted to see if it was possible to make a decent and effective hunting rifle hunting rifle using a mosin nagant but cheaply enough that it was not wiser to just go to walmart and buy a $350 rifle that was designed for such so I gave myself a $300 budget. also I wanted to use only tools that are commonly found in all garages so expensive things like drill presses were stricken.

1. the mosin nagant cost me 125+10 sales tax overall price was $135( a very good deal any more though) .
2. a boyds thumbhole sporter stock cost proximately $110 after shipping, required a great deal of fitting for someone that knows very little about wood working and gunsmithing in general. overall price was now $245.
3. a combination scope rail and bent bolt from ATI cost $45 after shipping and handling. I take full blame for not researching these first however I wanted to keep it cheap and a scout scope rail, scout scope and $80 bent bolt would have exceeded my budget by over 100% so I went the cheap route. the ATI scope rail mounted alright despite having to do everything by hand but the bent bolt which actually requires you to cut the existing bolt off and the drill and tap the bolt body for a single screw to hold it in place. needless to say this is a horrible setup. the bolt style also required further inletting of the boyds stock and the bolt handle rattled loose after a single magazine of ammo went through it. I went with a $10 tube of JB weld to permanently attach the handle to the bolt body has held up through about 50 rounds of 7.62x54R and 200 rounds of 7.62x25(chamber adapter). overall price is now exactly $300 without optics.

I put an existing scope on it t avoid extra investment. the groups have closed to about 3 MOA with a fixed 4x scope however at it's lowest setting still hits over a foot high at 100 yards. final conclusion is that it is possible to sporterize one of these rifles for less than what a modern sporter would cost however there are several problems that you may face along the way and the end result is still a stiff action with less accuracy than just about anything made today.

if you are trying for a cheap hunting rifle then I would suggest a walmart special remington 700 or savage axis. if you are trying to turn a 91/30 into a hunting rifle for the sole pleasure of doing it then I recomend spending the extra time on the scout scope rail that replaces the rear sight and a spare bolt with bent handle. they cost nearly as much as the rifle but it spares drilling and tapping and is completely reversable should you choose. as for stocks either the ATI monte carlo synthetic or a boyds laminate stock would serve you well. I like the boyds thumbhole well enough on mine and my brother has an ATI stock on his enfield and it really cuts down on weight.

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ignore my complete lack of capitalization. I still have no problem correcting your grammar.
I never said half the crap people said I did-Albert Einstein
You can't believe everything you read on the internet-Benjamin Franklin
Bean counters told me I couldn't fire a man for being in a wheelchair, did it anyway. Ramps are expensive.-Cave Johnson.

You send your existing bolt assembly in to RSI, they do the R&R on the bolt handle swap. Mine came back nicely welded & the bolt worked very smoothly in the receiver. RSI does excellent work on these, and their scope base is one-piece & very sturdy.

I am a purist a heart and it saddens me every time I finally see a K98, M38, or m1917 that has been sporterized however I have to remember that not long ago, within my short lifetime even that all of those rifles used to cost less than what a mosin costs today. I've seen sears catalogs that advertise enfield no4 rifles for $10, $15 for a pre sporterised model, who wouldn't buy one of those and chop them up for the hell of it at those prices today?

I chose a mosin nagant because I really couldn't justify chopping up a $350 enfield, $800 springfield, $400 arisaka, $500 1917, but I could justify chopping up a $125 dollar chunk of russian trash with 10 million clones running around. I figure that nobody is going to be missing my mosin for some time, once they stop being kept readily available at big 5, cabelas, grafs, KGCO, JGsales and the price shoots north of $500 then some may start calling me a bubba and saying that I am a fool for cutting up a timeless piece of history but for now I'm in the same boat as all of those guys that chopped up all the mausers:

mosins are cheap, I am bored, meh...why not?

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ignore my complete lack of capitalization. I still have no problem correcting your grammar.
I never said half the crap people said I did-Albert Einstein
You can't believe everything you read on the internet-Benjamin Franklin
Bean counters told me I couldn't fire a man for being in a wheelchair, did it anyway. Ramps are expensive.-Cave Johnson.

Normally I cringe at the thought of cutting up a classic military rifle, but the Mosins are so plentiful & in such generally...less than pristine condition, it doesn't bother me.
With peeling varnish, rust under the woodline, sights that require tinkering to get to shoot where they're pointed, and poor triggers, they do have character but they don't have the same class as a good Mauser or Enfield.

If I ran into a very nice sample that was in great shape wood & metal-wise, I wouldn't mess with it. The one I did have rebuilt had a warped & flaking stock with a messed up handguard, and was certainly no historical artifact to be put on display & worshipped.

My other two will remain in full military trim, but I feel no remorse over making the sporter into something I actually enjoy shooting & can hit with.
Denis

Look around for a pre sporterised MN, they sold chopped MN sporters here for $25 in the late 60's-early 70's.

I've read an old American Rifleman article on converting the bolt and receiver to take a bolt handle that sits behind the bridge area (no actual bridge there) so a Unertal type long range scope could be mounted more firmly. Its doable for those with the skill.

You should look into the Finn home built MN sporters, some are quite nice looking. They usually altered the original stock by dovetailing sections for grip and comb. Those often use contrasting woods which adds something to the look.

I wouldn't cut an MN in full military trim, but I also would not bother trying to restore a previously sportered MN to military configuration.

Rock Solid mount, or what I used- a Weaver Side Mount as shown below.
You need the skill and equipment (drill press) for the d&t mounts.
I made my own bent bolt, not difficult if you have a welder..
Made pillars from steel rod, epoxy bedded the receiver into a Boyd's stock.
Timney trigger.
Cut (22") and re-crowned (11 degree target crown) with a PTG crowning tool.

I don't have an issue with converting ANY of the WW bolt actions. They are what they are (big long heavy pigs) and if you don't like em make em what you want. But as posted above, in today's world it's tossing good money after bad. Just go get a Savage, Stevens, Marlin, Ruger etc and you'll be money ahead with a better gun.

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